Martin Compston in Quotes: Here are 13 funny and interesting quotes from the Scottish actor on Line of Duty, fame and football
He’s now one of Scotland’s best-known actors, thanks to roles in a string of successful television programmes, and Martin Compston is never short of something interesting to say.
He left Morton after just two first-team appearances, playing junior football for Greenock Juniors before landing his bog acting break when he successfully auditioned for the lead role in Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen.
""I never thought I'd be cast as a lead in a primetime BBC show, I just never thought I'd be someone Middle England would respond to."
The film was lauded at the Cannes Film Festival and Compston was nominated for Most Promising Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards.
Since then he’s appeared in a string of television roles, including Anti-Corruption Unit Detective Inspector Steve Arnott in BBC drama Line of Duty, Paul Ferris in The Wee Man, Ewan Brodie in Monarch of the Glen and Dan Docherty in The Nest. Recent work has included smash-hit Netflix series The Rig and drama Our House.
Award-winning big screen credits include A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Red Road and True North.
Married to American actress Tianna Chanel Flynn, the couple spend most of their time at their home in Las Vegas.
"I've two huge German shepherds who are my boys. They're called Biscuit and Buster, and I love them to bits."
Here are 13 funny and interesting things he’s had to say in interviews.
"When I was young, running with a gang was a cool thing to do; that's how you get popular; that's how you get the girls."
"There was a lot of pressure on me when I was 18, 19 to move to America. I went out for a couple of weeks and hated it. I thought I could go out my mind. You could really see how people could go off the rails."
“I’ll never get used to paparazzi following me about. It’s not a nice feeling, seeing pictures of yourself and your wife out and about when you’d no idea anyone was following you. But life has mostly changed in a good way. I get out to lovely events and I’m well looked after – you have to take the good with the bad."
"I don't regret giving up football for acting. I love football and am very proud I played for Morton. But the truth is, I wasn't going to get much higher in football. At the same time, I sensed I could go somewhere in acting. I'm 28, which is young for acting, whereas in football I'd now be near the end of my career."
“Dundee folk are definitely a law unto themselves. They’re a very unique race. I lived with Kyle Falconer from Dundee band The View for several years, so I have a bit of an insight into the Dundonian mindset."
"I'm in the very fortunate position as a young actor to not have to take the first job that comes along. I'm not motivated by money at this stage in my life, I'm motivated by work."
“Accents can be a bit like a costume, especially if you’re still in the process of trying to discover a character. When you do the voice, you immediately associate yourself with that person. But I’d rather just use my own accent – it’s not really cheating but it is one less thing to focus on getting right. When you’re doing an accent you really have to put in the work, you have to know every syllable inside out, so you study the script much more technically.”
"The last time I threw a punch was in primary school, and that was probably a slap."
"When I was growing up, it was the guys who were hardest at school who got the prettiest girls. It's a status thing."
"A lot of the films I do go down brilliantly critically and win awards, but not a lot of people see them."
"I've been lucky enough to work with some great directors, and I don't want to throw that away by doing one big horrible big budget film."
